Ableton Live alternative?

[Perfectsounds]

Interesting opinion on Live. I have been an audio producer since reel to reels and spent 25 years in broadcast radio. So I lived through the transition to digital. I also own a large mobile DJ company and was looking for a software/hardware combo that could be used in the studio and out to remix dance/club/hip-hop. Acid was just "ok", but Live seemed to be all that Acid was on steriods! So I went out and bought the Axiom 49 keyboard and the APC 40 because all the tutorials and videos seemed awesome. But even with my advanced editing skills and complex production ability, I am having an enormous learning curve. My business partner wants me to return the gear and move on...he is majorly frustrated with it. We can't get beats to sync with pre-recorded music most of the time. Warping is just unbearable and the library is difficult to understand. Sometimes it won't load clips because they are not activated, but we have activated everything on our system...scannned for libraries and activated again and again. I would love to see a demo video of someone remixing a dance song and explaing the steps. Showing how to add midi elements that sync with loops and just plain beatmixing into another dance song successfully. I think we are going to give it another week or two, but then we may have to give up on using Live and look for alternatives. Any video tutorials or resources that anyone can think of to get us over this learning curve will be greatly appreciated...send them my way. And I certainly don't mean any disrespect to the development and support teams at Ableton. Like I said...I would kiss the sky if I could operate this software like some of the people in the demo's. I know the software works...just not for me right now ...still trying!!!

[Machinesworking]

@Perfectsounds,
There are a ton of useful videos for free on youtube showing exactly what you want to do. Honestly, for DJ remixing etc. it can't be beat. My issues are trivial at best, but more to do with writing 13-24 part songs in Live and the UI compared to other DAWs, but I cannot for the life of me think of a better DAW for what you're talking about. Grasping the limitations and uses of the warping engine is imperative definitely in your case. I would suggest since you put the money into it, to buy a video tutorial course online, and talk to tech support about your clips problems. Or explain the problem better here, people can be helpful here, if you're willing to be razzed a little in the process!

[H20nly]

@ perfectsounds seriously everything Machinesworking said is right on point.

Start a new thread explaining your plight (maybe even just copy and paste from above). You should get a bunch of hits... just be patient. its a lot like a snowball effect. the biggest thing is don't let a joke or two get under your skin, its all in good fun. and even if its just out of meanness there are still a lot more people here willing to help than harm

[Nokatus]

Like I said...I would kiss the sky if I could operate this software like some of the people in the demo's. I know the software works...just not for me right now ...still trying!!!

Your extensive production background shines in that comment, and I mean, in a very positive way. During the years, I've noticed it's so much more often that one sees someone with limited or moderate experience, not getting along with a given tool, and then venting about how utterly shit that tool is. (I don't mean this thread but generally.) It's much more mature and constructive to be humble about it and acknowledge "This really seems to work great for these and these people... I wonder what could be the problem?"

That being said (and I'm still rambling generally here), some tools suit some people better than others. Someone might just click with something, out of habitual workflow expectations or a certain way of looking at things,and someone else might have to work a lot harder, maybe never becoming comfortable with the tool and seeking something that feels more right.

In your case, given your pro attitude and the things you want to do with the software, I also think Live should be right up your alley. Just keep at it for a while, and ask for tutorial/video recommendations in many places. It might be a great experience to attend a Live workshop nearby if you have the chance, and see first hand how it's being operated, being able to ask questions and try it hands on then and there. Then you can also compare the functionality to the way you perform functions on your own system and see if there's something actually technically wrong.

Good luck man

[Perfectsounds]

Hey guy's just read all of your suggestions about our problems w/abelton and really want to thank you for all the positive vibes! I'm sure that this really could be the software that we are looking for and need to just hang in there and try to perfect it. Thanx again for the support we will keep on trucken. Thanx Gary@ Perfect Sounds

[Perfectsounds]

I have to thank you all for the "bits" of info regarding everthing Ableton...I am making great progress now. Does anyone know where I can get more pre-made loops and samples either in wav or mp3 format. Also, I know I have seen a toutorial on recording your mix as a wav or mp3, but could anyone give me some quick direction on recording doing that?

Thankfully yours,
Tom-Perfect Sounds

[Atardecer]

You can check out something like Loopmasters for loops. Try the Puremagnetik site for Ableton specific stuff. My main issue with Live is stability. For a program thats supposed to be used live its horribly unstable and buggy. Close to unusable IMHO. I own Cubase and Reason and Im thinking I'll go back to Cubase. I know Im gonna miss all the cool stuff in Live but theres not much point trying to use a program that just doesnt work. Im curious about AudioMulch as a creative alternative. I know its not a DAW as such and might need to be used in conjunction with another DAW, but anyone used it?

Jim

[dokken]

You can check out something like Loopmasters for loops. Try the Puremagnetik site for Ableton specific stuff. My main issue with Live is stability. For a program thats supposed to be used live its horribly unstable and buggy. Close to unusable IMHO. I own Cubase and Reason and Im thinking I'll go back to Cubase. I know Im gonna miss all the cool stuff in Live but theres not much point trying to use a program that just doesnt work. Im curious about AudioMulch as a creative alternative. I know its not a DAW as such and might need to be used in conjunction with another DAW, but anyone used it?

Jim

You find it to be unstable? I haven't really had that problem myself, at least no more than any other piece of software I run. I have Cubase LE 4 and I find it to be very unstable myself. It's actually the only audio software I have now that I just don't trust very much. I'm sure the full version is much more solid though.

[chromaform]

You can check out something like Loopmasters for loops. Try the Puremagnetik site for Ableton specific stuff. My main issue with Live is stability. For a program thats supposed to be used live its horribly unstable and buggy. Close to unusable IMHO. I own Cubase and Reason and Im thinking I'll go back to Cubase. I know Im gonna miss all the cool stuff in Live but theres not much point trying to use a program that just doesnt work. Im curious about AudioMulch as a creative alternative. I know its not a DAW as such and might need to be used in conjunction with another DAW, but anyone used it?

Jim

Yes as I'm finding out, Live is super unreliable so far... no way would I use Live live.. I get no more than 30 minutes before each crash... :/

[outershpongolia]

super unrleliable due to user error and other hardware/software.. It's YOUR fault, most of the time, and if it isn't then do some bug reports if you find something that you can recreate. It works perfect on my end, only had crashes with 3rd party plugin's or when hardware goes wiry like my Fast Track Ultra trying to reboot my laptop..

[andychn]

I've been using Live for 3 years... I have to agree with the original post here about the UI... While i understand they need to make it cross platform compatible I do feel they make it WAY TO FREAKIN complex!!! IF they have a UI/HF Engineer then that person needs to be fired NOW!

The demos make it all look soooo simple, but in my experience in practice this thing operates in ways which are WAY too idiosyncratic and overly complex.

Is there an alternative? NO. Live is special... only one of it's kind.

You'll find the same crap elsewhere... really good, differentiated functionality typically comes with things which make it borderline acceptable for the majority of new users. If you use live exclusively and repeatedly eventually you come to grips with it... Thats the case with all SW. Yah... it sux. Thats what Human Factors Engineers are for... too bad most SW companies do not understand that and they use Graphics designers for the UI designs.